"Thank You Germany!"

With yesterday's proclaimed secession the provincial administration in Pristina has concluded what Berlin has been preparing for years - at first with covert secret service support for the KLA, then with participation in the military aggression against Yugoslavia in March 1999 and finally within the framework of the UN Administration in Pristina (UNMIK) (german-foreign-policy.com reported [1]). The secession of Serbia's southern province was carried out in violation of the UN Charter - guaranteeing all UN member states the sovereignty and territorial integrity - and in disregard of the decisions taken by the UN Security Council. Most significant is the Resolution 1244 explicitly reconfirming to Belgrade the integrity of its sovereign territory. The German government intends to recognize the secession soon and demands that all EU member states do the same. Berlin thereby proves once again that it is the driving force behind a growing degeneration of international law, blatantly exalting the despotism of power to the highest principle of foreign policy.

Fantasy

With the aid of fantasy the foreign ministry seeks to cover up the German government's renewed breach of international law. In its statement before the Foreign Relations Committee of the German Parliament, the ministry alleged that the guarantees of Serbia's sovereignty and integrity, laid down in UN Resolution 1244, refer merely to a "transitional government" in Kosovo and does not preclude secession. A reading of the text proves this audacious fabrication to be groundless. According to the Foreign Ministry, the UN Resolution - except for the guarantees for Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity - is still in force, so as not to jeopardize the legitimacy of NATO's and the EU's deployment, because if the resolution were no longer valid, it would mean that the western countries' occupation of Serbian territory would be dependant upon the "invitation" of their Kosovo vassals in Pristina, an embarrassing dependency that Berlin and Washington would like to avoid.[2]

Precedence

This ludicrous approach that degrades UN Resolutions to non-binding suggestion lists, from which one can pick and choose to apply clauses at preference, meets open contradiction even within the entourage of the Foreign Ministry. Warnings of incalculable counter-measures are being heard. "Unilateral interpretations of Security Council Resolutions constitute (...) cases of precedence that, under other circumstances, can be turned against the western nations,"[3] a member of the Foreign Ministry's Council of International Jurists wrote in a newspaper article.

Decree

German legal arbitrariness can also be seen by the way the decision was taken to dispatch a so-called police and judicial mission to Kosovo. In spite of massive pressure from Berlin, six EU member states are still rejecting the secession, because their own sovereignty is threatened by separatists. With the refusals of Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus to actively support the new "EU-mission", the modalities for decision making were changed without further ado and the dispatching of 2000 police and judicial officers was virtually taken by decree. In Brussels one could hear concerning the decision-making, that the dispatching had been proposed and "formally adopted" when the time-limit for lodging an objection - at midnight on Saturday - had expired without a veto from an EU member state. With this new voting technique, final approval becomes superfluous. Berlin had made it clear that it would accept a veto under no circumstances. To demonstrate its determination, Germany had already chosen its first 63 police officers for the "mission" before the time-limit had expired.[4]

Impunity

Amnesty International has recently published a report on its research concerning the "police and justice mission" being conducted in the name of the United Nations, but also under western control. The conclusions are devastating for the numerous -among them also German - police and judicial officers who have been deployed in Kosovo since 1999. According to Sian Jones, Amnesty International's researcher on Kosovo, "hundreds of cases including murders, rapes and enforced disappearances have been closed, for want of evidence that was neither promptly nor effectively gathered" by the UN Mission. There is persistent "impunity" for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the southern Serbian province claiming to be an independent state and about to be recognized by Germany.[5] According to Amnesty „no progress is ever made", quite the contrary, the situation has worsened in recent months. Amnesty International "urges the UN not to undertake any similar international justice missions in the future until effective steps have been taken to ensure that none of the extensive flaws identified in this report are repeated."[6]

Networks

The current Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is among those persons whose past could shed light on what Amnesty considers "extensive flaws". Washington and Berlin's close ally proclaimed the southern Serbian province's "independence" in Pristina yesterday. If the UN police and judicial officers would have accomplished their mission, Thaci would have been brought to trial long ago. Already in 1997, Serbian judges had sentenced him to ten years in prison - for several murders. "Thaci had ordered liquidations within his own ranks," two former KLA fighters report about their former leader.[7] In the eyes of the German Foreign Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst), the current Prime Minister is one of the heads of the Kosovo Mafia and a sponsor of a "professional killer".[8] A survey commissioned by the German Bundeswehr asserts that "in intelligence circles" Thaci "is considered to be 'far more dangerous'" than Ramush Haradinaj, who is indicted for war crimes [9], "because the former KLA leader has an extensive international criminal network at his disposal."[10]

Last Question

With the Kosovo declaration of secession, that, in violation of international law, has granted criminals their own state, German efforts to achieve the disempowerment of its traditional opponent, Serbia, has attained its objective. Belgrade has lost the control over most of the territory of what had formerly been Yugoslavia, has been deprived its access to the sea and is surrounded by hostile states. On the other hand, through a new war against Belgrade and the break-up of Serbian territory, Berlin was able to successfully reassert its claim as hegemonic power in Southeast Europe. With yesterday's declaration of secession, according to the German government, the "last remaining open question concerning the disintegration process of Yugoslavia (...) has been resolved."[11]

[1] see also Neuer Vasall, Imperial Consummation, Teil der Verwaltung, A Sort of Resurrection for Yugoslavia, Die Herren des Rechts, Paketlösung, Abmontiert, Sieger im Kalten Krieg, Selbstbestimmung, Die zweite Welle, Dayton II, Mit kreativen Tricks, Angelpunkt, Countdown and Kooperationsraum.
[2] Die Argumentationen entstammen einem Papier des Auswärtigen Amts mit dem Titel "Kosovo. Resolution des Sicherheitsrates 1244 (1999) und eine evtl. Unabhängigkeitserklärung des Kosovo".
[3] Kein Recht auf Abspaltung; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 14.02.2008
[4] EU entsendet Polizisten und Juristen in das Kosovo; Reuters 16.02.2008
[5] amnesty international legt neuen Kosovo-Bericht vor; www.amnesty.de
[6] Kosovo (Serbia): The challenge to fix a failed UN justice mission; www.amnesty.org
[7] "Die Schlange" greift nach der Macht im Kosovo; Die Welt 28.01.2006
[8] Jürgen Roth: Rechtsstaat? Lieber nicht!; Die Weltwoche 43/2005
[9] see also Political Friendships and Heldenfigur
[10] Operationalisierung von Security Sector Reform (SSR) auf dem Westlichen Balkan; Institut für Europäische Politik 09.01.2007. See also Aufs engste verflochten
[11] Erklärung zur Entscheidung des Parlaments im Kosovo; Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung 17.02.2008